Content Advisory: Abuse, Suicide
Movie Info
A group of friends hold an intervention and try to get the social outcast of the bunch to commit suicide in Unfriending. Blake (Sean Meldrum) and May (Simone Jetsun) have invited their friends Barclay (Michael Pearson), Radia (Jenna Vittoria), Giselle (Rachelle Lauzon), and Darby (Honor Spencer) for a very special dinner party. The friend group plans to hold a “life intervention” for nerdy loner Issac (Alex Stone) and convince him that his life is not worth living and that he should just kill himself. However, the plan is complicated when Issac arrives with a date, Lexxi (Golden Madison).
Unfriending Synopsis
Unfriending is a dark comedy written and directed by the Butler Brothers of Brett M. Butler and Jason G. Butler (First Round Down, Purgatory Jack). The film is a satire on cancel culture and toxic friendships, featuring a group of the worst and most pretentious people deciding that one man’s life isn’t worth living, just because it isn’t up to their standards. Blake in particular is resentful of having to maintain a friendship with Issac for three decades. However, a wrench is thrown into Blake’s plan when Issac ends up showing up with a date, which results in an adjustment of the plan and figuring out what to do about Lexxi.
My Thoughts on Unfriending
Unfriending can be an incredibly difficult film to watch at times since the majority of the characters are horrible human beings. Even before the revelation of the “life intervention” plans for the night, Blake reveals himself to be quite the pretentious jerk by refilling an empty bottle of fancy wine with box wine from the garage, expecting a hipster like Barclay not to notice. The film does border on mean-spiritedness at times, especially when people make casual comments to each other that Issac should just kill himself already.
However, the discomfort that comes from watching the film turns out to be quite intentional, as the night reaches its climax. For the majority of the film, punk rocker Darby is the only member of the group not fully on board with the plan to get Issac to kill himself. With Darby unwilling to be a bystander to this so-called intervention, things eventually blow up into a full-out Mexican standoff in the third act of the film.
Unfriending also ends up having several surprising twists that I don’t want to get into too much detail about. Let me just say that by the time credits roll to the tune of Sloan’s “Everything You’ve Done Wrong,” all the characters have ended up right where they deserve, and then some. This makes Unfriending a dark comedy worth checking out.
Trailer for Unfriending
